SAP and Hyper-V: Where to find more info
Hyper-V as virtualization platform for SAP applications get’s more and more focus. I constantly get questions where to find more info on the technology, administration, infrastructure planning, performance, management etc. The good news is: There is plenty of information available – it just may require some time to search for it. In order to help you for a fast ramp-up, I have created over time a list of useful links which points to various areas of interest.
SAP info:
Enter the SDN page https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/windows for info about SAP on Windows. There is a White Paper Virtualizing SAP applications on Windows which describes the configurations, version info and SAP notes to read.
Microsoft info:
Microsoft page about virtualization technologies in general can be found at https://www.microsoft.com/virtualization/default.mspx
The following page refers to Hyper-V and points to downloads and technical documentation: https://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/hyperv.aspx
Hyper-V administration:
There are a number of blogs which provides info about administration, configuration, programming and operation of Hyper-V. The blogs can be found at:
https://blogs.technet.com/virtualization
https://blogs.technet.com/jhoward/
https://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/
https://blogs.technet.com/germanvirtualizationblog/default.aspx (German only)
Performance:
The following blog and document provide guidelines for optimal configuration and performance related issues. The blog can be found at:
https://blogs.msdn.com/tvoellm/
The newly revised Performance Tuning Guidelines for Windows Server 2008 now also contain a chapter for tuning Hyper-V. The guide can be found at:
https://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/sysperf/Perf_tun_srv.mspx
Hyper-V Server:
Hyper-V Server is the new standalone server for Hyper-V which was announced in September 2008. Find more information and a free download at the following page:
https://www.microsoft.com/hyper-VServer
Planning virtual installations:
There is a new toolkit available from Microsoft which helps to plan and prepare for the virtualization of components in Hyper-V. The Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) tool can be used for this purpose and is freely available. In order to introduce into the tool, there is a video available at:
https://edge.technet.com/Media/MAP-tool-virtualization-demo-with-Baldwin/
A comprehensive description in written format is also available here:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb977556.aspx
As mentioned above, the tool can be freely downloaded and is available here:
The version 3.2 of the tool has been recently released at EMEA TechEd 2008 in Barcelona. The following blog provides an update about the new features in the MAP tool:
https://blogs.technet.com/mapblog/archive/2008/11/03/rtm-news-microsoft-assessment-and-planning-toolkit-3-2-now-available.aspx
System Center Virtual Machine Manager:
System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007 is the integrated and cost-effective solution for IT professionals responsible for managing virtual infrastructure, providing unified management of physical and virtual machines, consolidation of underutilized physical servers, and rapid provisioning of new virtual machines by leveraging the expertise and investments in Microsoft Windows Server technology. The new version SCVMM 2008 which has been released for RTM will be able to manage Hyper-V as well as VMware infrastructures. Information about VMM 2007 and VMM 2008 is available at:
https://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/virtualmachinemanager/en/us/default.aspx
Have fun working with Hyper-V
Josef